$50K incentive for East Valley Water District CEO is shot down

HIGHLAND >> The unexpected appearance of a few community members appears to have stopped the East Valley Water District from changing its general manager’s contract to promise him an extra $50,000 if he met certain conditions to the board’s satisfaction, those residents say.

The emails and public comments of several concerned residents and of Highland Councilwoman Jody Scott were cited by some board members Wednesday. That’s when they voted 3-2 to deny a contract amendment that would have amended the $195,000 contract of General Manager and CEO John Mura to give him an additional $25,000 if the goals were met by April 30, 2014, or an additional $50,000 if he met the goals by March 30.

“Because community members emailed and did speak up, I was told afterward that there was a swing vote, and what obviously was a done deal got undone,” said Highland resident Page Miller.

“I guarantee you’ll be here either next year or the year after asking for a rate increase,” Scott said. “If you do, we’ll be here with a bucket of tar and feathers.”

Scott and other critics of the proposal said they had nothing against Mura, who was hired in January 2012, but that there was no reason for an additional reward.

“He did the job he was hired to do,” Scott said.

The money was meant as an incentive for Mura to do what the water district has been attempting for 25 years, said board chairman Matt LeVesque — build a new headquarters.

“If you’re going to give a stick to someone — get it done or you’re fired — you should also offer a carrot,” he told the handful of people who came to Wednesday’s meeting.

But the additional money would make Mura the highest-paid CEO of a water district the size of East Valley and would send a bad signal to employees who “would love to have any semblance of a bonus,” said board member Kip Sturgeon.

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“Employees would love to have any semblance of a bonus or even a raise,” said Sturgeon, who also questioned the timing.

The board’s last election, in which all incumbents were re-elected, was Aug. 27.

Vice Chairman James Morales, who along with LeVesque supported the proposed amendment, said it was a good business practice to offer incentives in order to get top performance.

“This idea that public agencies could and should be run like businesses to the extent possible, this idea of performance-based payment, is not new,” Morales said, explaining the history of the idea.

During that history, board member George “Skip” Wilson broke in, leading to a reprimand from Morales.

“Why are you interrupting me, sir?” Morales asked.

Wilson answered, “I just think you’ve been talking long enough.”

That was one of two flare-ups between board members during discussion of the contract change, with the other involving LeVesque using a synonym for nonsense that led Miller to chastise him for his language.